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| Candidate filings complete for April school, city, fire district elections |
By: Darrell Todd Maurina
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Posted: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 11:43 pm
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PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (Jan. 20, 2009) — When the filing period ended Tuesday for city council, school district, fire district and ambulance district elections, data showed that Pulaski County’s two largest cities will have quiet races but many of the smaller communities will have hotly contested elections with large numbers of candidates.
In St. Robert, only Ward I Alderman Theresa Cook faces a contested race. She’s being challenged by a neighbor Charles Slider, for her position; incumbent Mayor George Sanders, Ward II Alderman Gene Newkirk, Ward III Alderman Allan Johannsen and Ward IV Alderman Bill Shaw are all running unopposed.
In Waynesville, Ward I Alderman Diana Stanford faces a challenge from Charles Anderson. Longtime Ward II Alderman Adele Nickels decided not to run for re-election, but her seat will be filled James McDonald since he was the only candidate to file for that position. Ward III Alderman Luge Hardman and Ward IV Alderman Mike France are running unopposed for re-election to their two-year terms, and Ward IV Alderman Butch O’Riley, who was appointed to fill a vacancy when former Alderman Pat Howe moved out of the city limits, is running unopposed for the remaining one year of the unexpired term.
The candidate list for the Waynesville R-VI School Board hasn’t changed since the first day of filing. Two three-year terms are available and incumbent board president Randy Walters is running for re-election but board member David Tritten decided not to run. Three challengers, former board member and assistant superintendent Leroy Fulmer as well as Herman Blau and Melvin Hensley, are seeking spots on the board.
The candidate list is much longer in Crocker, where the city has been torn by controversy focusing on criticial budget problems and warnings that City Administrator Joyce Peterson may lose her job. Mayor Jim Morgan, Ward I Alderman Jim Patton, and Ward II Alderman Kim Skaggs-Henson are all seeking re-election to two-year terms and Ward I Alderman Jeff Curry is seeking re-election to a one-year unexpired term, but all four face at least one opponent.
Morgan has two people, Linda Wilson and Raymond Towe, attempting to unseat him. Ward I resident Bill Laughlin filed against Patton on Jan. 12, but he withdrew on the last day of candidate filing and Lorie Layman then filed to oppose him instead. Skaggs-Henson waited until the last filing day to turn in her candidacy paperwork and she will be opposed by Herman Goodrich, who also filed on the last day. Curry faces a challenge by Tom Townsend for his seat.
Fire board elections usually aren’t controversial, but the Crocker Fire Board has three candidates running for two seats. Incumbent fire board member David Ellzey decided not to run for re-election, and incumbent Robert Ishmael will face off against challengers Jeff Porter and Randall Moore. Porter is also a Ward I alderman.
The Crocker R-I School Board will also have a contested race. Incumbent board president Charles Worstell and board member Jeff Curry, who is also a Ward I alderman, are being challenged by John Riffe and Rebecca Ruckman Posten.
The Richland City Council will have three contested races. Municipal Judge Rodney Blanchard and Ward III Alderman Tim Bailey are running unopposed. However, Mayor Bob Wall faces a challenge from Kimi Gerred, Ward I Alderman Eldon Haun, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term, is being challenged by Larry Jeffries, and Ward II Alderman Mac Myers is being challenged by Thomas Murphy.
Neither of the two incumbents on the Richland R-IV School Board, Troy Posten and Jo-Ellen Ferguson, are running for re-election. They’re being challenged by Brenda Mathes, Elizabeth Warren, Donna Guevremont, Mike Calvetti, Jerry Pemberton, Ira Moss and Eric Graves.
Dixon is often known for fiery elections, but that won’t happen this year — the community won’t see any change in its city council or ambulance board.
Mayor Darrell French, Municipal Judge Evan Shackleford, Ward I Alderman Vienna Tyson, Ward II Alderman Steven Parker and Ward III Alderman John Sheppard are all running unopposed, though who would fill the Ward II position wasn’t clear until the last day of filing when Parker finally turned in his candidacy papers. On the Dixon Ambulance District board, subdistrict 1 member Dennis Lachowicz and subdistrict 4 member Art Forshey both filed for re-election, though Forshey didn’t turn his papers in until the last day.
There will be contested races for the Dixon Fire Board and Dixon R-I School Board, however.
The two incumbent fire board members are Les Clark and Jim Humphrey. Humphrey isn’t running for re-election, but on the last day of filing, candidates James M. Miller and James McClendon turned in candidacy papers. Clark submitted his papers a week after the filing period began.
Both incumbent Dixon R-I School Board members, board president Troy Porter and board member Craig Rivera, turned in their candidacy paperwork on the first day of filing. Challenger Greg Roberson turned in his paperwork on Monday, one day before the end of filing.
Several area school districts that don’t include cities are also facing contested elections. In the Laquey R-V School District, incumbents Mary Cristoffer and Mary Ann Miller are being challenged by three other residents, Larry Southard, Fanny Gan and William W. Council. Southard is a former board member.
The Plato R-V School District, which includes southern Pulaski County as well as northern Texas County and parts of Wright and Laclede counties, has three seats up for election but didn’t have any candidates until almost the end of the filing period. Incumbents Mike Friend and Penny Morrison both turned in their candidacy papers for re-election to their three-year terms on the last day of filing, as did board member Pete Scurlock, who was appointed last spring to fill the remainder of a board member’s term when a re-elected incumbent board member was determined to be ineligible because she didn’t file required paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission. Scurlock has filed both for election to the two-year unexpired balance of his current term as well as for a full three-year position on the school board. They will face Kimberly A. (Murry) Hodges and Kevin Christensen, both of whom filed last week, and candidates Lee Atterberry, John Sponsel and Tina Routh, who turned in their papers on the last day of filing. Hodges and Christensen are running for the two-year term and the other challengers are running for the three-year term.
While city councils must hold elections regardless of how many candidates file, school boards, fire boards and ambulance boards can save money by not holding an election if the number of people running for office is the same as the number of people to be elected.
That will happen this year in the Swedeborg R-III School District, where all three incumbents, Wayne King, Jamie Alexander and Alexis Roam, are running for re-election, and also in the Pulaski County Ambulance District, where Waynesville Subdistrict 3 incumbent Cindy Walters is running for re-election and Ronnie Layman was the only candidate to file for the Crocker Subdistrict 6 seat that had been held for two decades by Larry Salveter.
Crocker City Council: (all two-year terms unless specified)
Mayor (2-year term): Jim Morgan (filed 12/16), CHALLENGERS: Linda Wilson (filed 1/13), Raymond Towe (filed 1/14)
Ward I (2-year term): Jim Patton (filed 1/9), CHALLENGER: Lorie Layman (filed 1/20)
Ward I (1 year unexpired term): Jeff Curry (filed 1/2), CHALLENGER: Tom Townsend (filed 1/14)
Ward II (2-year term): Kim Skaggs-Henson (filed 1/20), CHALLENGER: Herman Goodrich (filed 1/20)
Dixon City Council: (all two-year terms)
Mayor: Darrell French (filed 1/5)
Judge: Evan Shackleford (filed 1/13)
Ward I: Vienna Tyson (filed 12/18)
Ward II: Steven Parker (filed 1/20)
Ward III: John Sheppard (filed 1/5)
Richland City Council: (all two-year terms)
Mayor: Bob Wall (filed 12/16), CHALLENGER: Kimi Gerred (filed 12/19)
Judge: Rodney Blanchard (filed 12/16)
Ward I: Eldon Haun (filed 1/13), CHALLENGER: Larry Jeffries (filed 12/29)
Ward II: Mac Myers (filed 1/2), CHALLENGER: Thomas Murphy (filed 12/30)
Ward III: Tim Bailey (filed 12/23)
St. Robert City Council: (all two-year terms)
Mayor: George Sanders (filed 12/17)
Ward I: Theresa Cook (filed 12/30), CHALLENGER: Charles Slider (filed 1/5)
Ward II: Gene Newkirk (filed 12/23)
Ward III: Allan Johannsen (filed 1/5)
Ward IV: Bill Shaw (filed 12/18)
Waynesville City Council: (all two-year terms unless specified)
Ward I: Diana Stanford (filed 12/16), CHALLENGER: Charles Anderson (filed 1/12)
Ward II: Adele Nickels (did not file), CHALLENGER: James McDonald (filed 1/14)
Ward III: Luge Hardman (filed 12/16)
Ward IV: Mike France (filed 12/16)
Ward IV (unexpired): Butch O’Riley (filed 12/18)
Crocker R-II School Board: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Charles Worstell (filed 12/16), Jeff Curry (filed 12/17)
CHALLENGERS: John Riffe (filed 1/8), Rebecca Ruckman Posten (filed 1/8)
Dixon R-I School Board: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Troy Porter (filed 12/16), Craig Rivera (filed 12/16)
CHALLENGER: Greg Roberson (filed 1/19)
Laquey R-V School Board: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Mary Cristoffer (filed 12/16), Mary Ann Miller (filed 1/15)
CHALLENGERS: Larry Southard (filed 12/16), Fanny Gan (filed 12/18), William W. Council (filed 1/13)
Plato R-V School Board: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Mike Friend (filed 1/20), Penny Morrison (filed 1/20)
CHALLENGERS: Kevin Christenson (filed 1/14), Pete Scurlock (filed 1/20), John Sponsel (filed 1/20), Tina Routh (filed 1/20)
Incumbent (2 year term): Pete Scurlock (filed 1/20)
CHALLENGERS: Kimberly A. (Murry) Hodges (filed 1/12), Lee Atterberry (filed 1/20)
Richland R-IV School Board: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Troy Posten (did not file), Jo-Ellen Ferguson (did not file)
CHALLENGERS: Brenda Mathes (filed 12/17), Elizabeth Warren (12/19), Donna Guevremont (12/19), Mike Calvetti (1/9), Jerry Pemberton (filed 1/12), Ira Moss (1/13), Eric Graves (filed 1/16)
Swedeborg R-III School Board: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Wayne King (filed 12/16), Jamie Alexander (filed 1/12)
Incumbent (1 year term): Alexis Roam (filed 12/18)
Waynesville R-VI School District: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Randy Walters (filed 12/16), David Tritten (did not file)
CHALLENGERS: Leroy Fulmer (filed 12/16), Herman Blau (filed 12/16), Melvin Hensley (filed 12/16)
Crocker Rural Fire Protection District: (three-year terms):
Incumbents: Robert Ishmael (filed 12/16), David Ellzey (did not file)
CHALLENGERS: Jeff Porter (filed 12/17), Randall Moore (1/2)
Dixon Rural Fire Protection District: (six-year and three-year terms):
Incumbent: Les Clark (filed 12/23), Jim Humphrey (did not file)
CHALLENGERS: James M. Miller (filed 1/20), James McClendon (filed 1/20)
Pulaski County Ambulance District: (three-year terms)
Waynesville Subdistrict 3: Cindy Walters (filed 1/19)
Crocker Subdistrict 6: Larry Salveter (did not file), CHALLENGER Ronnie Layman (filed 12/23)
Dixon Ambulance District: (three-year terms)
Subdistrict 1: Dennis Lachowicz (filed 1/15)
Subdistrict 4: Art Forshey (filed 1/20)
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